LIVE OAK -- A fire destroyed an oceanfront Geoffroy Drive home on Sunday night, and the cause is considered suspicious due to a partially nude woman -- reported missing earlier in the day -- found on the back deck, Central Fire Protection District officials said.

The cliff-top home was vacant and is used as a vacation home, Central Fire inspector Mike DeMars said.

Firefighters received a call from a neighbor about 10 p.m. and arrived to find flames shooting through the roof of the two-story Craftsman-style home and a partially nude, incoherent young woman staring at the fire from the back deck, DeMars said.

The cause is under investigation, but it is being treated as suspicious "due to the mysterious woman," he said.

"It's going to be hard to determine a cause because there is so much damage," he said. "It's gutted. It was a delayed report. Many of the homes here are second homes."

The woman was naked from the waist up and a neighbor placed a blanket over her shoulders, DeMars said. She was unable to tell firefighters or sheriff's deputies what she was doing at the home and was taken to Dominican Hospital for evaluation, he said.

The Sheriff's Office said the 20-year-old woman was reported missing from Soquel earlier Sunday.

Sgt. Pat Dimick declined further comment due to the ongoing investigation and medical privacy issues.

Monday, Central Fire investigators were removing a security system from the home to see if it would yield any clues and an owner of the home, Dennis Parnagian, arrived to see his home in ruins.

Parnagian said several members of his family use the home, which they bought in 1996 and upgraded. He said he was grateful no one was hurt.

"It's just property damage," Parnagian said. "We have lots of good memories of our children and grandchildren here, but we'll rebuild. The community and the view stays the same."

Parnagian and his next-door neighbors say they have had people come into their backyards, an arm of Twin Lakes Beach that overlook Blacks Beach near 16th Avenue and East Cliff Drive.

"We've never had a problem, but maybe this time something went terribly wrong," Parnagian said.

His neighbor, Sue Cauwels, said she is grateful firefighters were able to prevent the blaze from reaching her home.

"They saved our house; all we have is cracked windows," Cauwels said. "They took care of it all night."

She said she was shocked to see her neighbor's home and felt terrible for them.

"It's devastating," she said. "It went up so fast."

The home did not have sprinklers or alarms, DeMars said. If rebuilt, current law will require a fire sprinkler system, he said.

DeMars remembered a fire on Geoffroy Drive about 20 years ago that destroyed two homes late one night, in part because many of the homes near it were vacant and no one spotted the fire right away. He said a new hydrant was installed after that fire, which firefighters used Sunday.